Blog | Shearwater Productions

Youth Theatre for Civilians: How to help your students put on a play

August 12, 2013

I get a lot of questions from non-theatre people about how to teach theatre to kids. And I love it! It might be from a camp counselor who wants to put together a skit for the parents or a history teacher trying to get students to understand the choices of the Ancient Romans. Regardless, I have a few tricks that I always like to pass on to educators undertaking this endeavor. What background do I need as an educator? Know first that it will be difficult, similar to running a science camp without a strong background in science. Don’t make

A group of editors around a table working

Theatre Ed: making it happen

July 14, 2013

I have spent the weekend with 15 driven, crazy, garrulous, impassioned, over-scheduled people who have one thing and one thing only in common: the belief that all children benefit from theatre education. We work from noon on Friday till 10:30 p.m., 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. We work in committees, we work as a large group, we go to drinks at 10:30 and inevitably talk shop (usually social justice issues in art accessibility). We do the heavy duty work in prep for our annual Educators’ Conference (in NYC this year)

Holly Adams in her studio recording an audiobook

Group Playwrighting with Kids!

July 7, 2013

There are at least three excellent books on playbuilding: Playbuilding by Errol Bray, Building Plays by Michaels and Tarrington, and Theatre, Dialogue and Community: The Hope is Vital Training Manual by Michael Rohd. In a nutshell, there are three steps: I. Building a common skill base and creating a project outline. III. Filling in the scenes and developing the script. IV. Troubleshooting/Keeping the faith (rehearsing). Most of you have your own rehearsal practices and probably have targeted performance skills you/your artist are teaching, but I have learned that the idea of having the kids ‘write the play’ is still daunting.

Barbara Adams doing a yoga pose in a garden

Where does my love of art come from? My mom

June 2, 2013

Many people have asked me about my own history as a teaching artist, when I began, who shaped my initial thinking, and my first forays into this dynamic field. Without question, my practice continues to change and grow as I strive to learn from colleagues, mentors, writings by teaching artists, and workshops. However, my core frame, my nutrient-rich context into which the seeds of all things are sown, is a gift from my mother, Barbara Lucia Adams. Let me quote her. “I had a passion for theatre, but more importantly, I saw what it could do. I could see theatre

A christmas play with mummers in costume

How to put on a Mummers’ play

May 20, 2013

Got an event? Grab your friends, some archetypal and silly costumes, and do some mumming! What is mumming? Mumming arises out of the same tradition as sword dances, and ethnohistorians believe they both grew out of ancient agrarian societies. They have their origins in ritualized sacrifice to ensure the renewed fertility of the land and the people as well as the battle between the eternal opposites — the old and new year, winter and spring, the darkness and the light. In the past 200 hundred years, a group of Mummers might perform for members of a household, people on the

Girl editing green screen on her computer

How to implement a class film project

May 13, 2013

Here are some whys and hows on using film with youth from guest blogger Rebekkah Adams! Working on a video project in the classroom can seem like unwanted stress, but really it is the same as any other undertaking. At the most basic level, the process can be split into three phases: pre-production, production, and post-production. Each presents unique challenges both within the student body and with the project itself. Pre-Production: Script or Treatment Phase Every good project begins with a plan. While it’s important to allow students to create this themselves, it is usually beneficial to have some guidelines

Holly Adams reading a script into her mic

Tips for Creating a Better Script for your Business Photo-Montage

May 3, 2013

One of the things I do is Voice Over for webmercials, video, e-learning, and audiobooks. I have been the Voice Talent for real-estate, nature documentaries, and construction companies. Frequently, the person creating the script is not familiar with writing for this medium. It makes more work (and some frustration) for everyone. So, whether you have a montage of your arts event, your company’s 25th celebration, the trees in your park, or the activism in your school, check out these tips before creating your script for the narration. Step 1: Time Watchable time limit is three minutes, and most quick web

Holly and JR in Melodrama and Murder by Mystery & Adventure Agency

A Mini-history on the Mis-Maligned Melodrama

April 30, 2013

You must pay the rent! I can’t pay the rent! I’ll pay the rent. My hero! I admit I LOVE melodrama — the true stuff, the new stuff, and the mustachioed tongue-in-cheek stuff. That being said, I weep copious tears, gnash my teeth, and rend my garments when folks use “melodrama” in solely disparaging ways. In truth, melodrama grew from the dance hall, cheap entertainment (thrills, chills, and crazy love stories!), into a means to forward a progressive social agenda and large-scale cultural and system reform. WHHHHAAAAAT?!?!?! NO!!! Yes, my friends, yes. The history of melodrama In Victorian England, if

A young boy paints in an arts in education poster

Advocating for Arts Education

April 21, 2013

Okay friends, it’s the time of your school districts are making plans for next year, Arts Advocacy Day just happened here in the USA, and politicians are planning for fall elections before people check out for the summer. Therefore, this blog is devoted to fabulous writings and research on the importance of arts education and arts at the heart of common core academic learning. First off, there is an awesome cyber clearinghouse for arts research, and I highly recommend it if you are a one-stop-shopping kinda person: www.artsedsearch.org Here’s a portion of a recent research posting on said site, with

Hands making shapes against a yellow wall

Body Language: How to unpack the non-verbal parts of communication

April 13, 2013

Communication is about more than just words—it’s tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions. Cadence, eye contact, gestures, body angles, and weight placement all have implications, which change depending on the social situation, the cultural background of speaker, and the status of the participants. As an actor whose specialty is Physical Theatre, and also as a person with a keen interest in interaction, empowerment, and culture, I have given a great deal of my life’s attention to these non-verbal cues. Along those lines, I have taught workshops with some wonderful college students who are going into health-related fields, and